The mission of this blog is to promote the proposition that you and I should dedicate ourselves to building a culture of peace by affirming that humanism will triumph the theologies of despair and the ideologies of violence: a commitment to eliminate war and all other forms of violence.

Archive for February, 2012

Whitney Houston, an extraordinary entertainer, honored as if she had an exemplary life even though wasted on alcohol and drugs. A role model for many children who through her example now believe their feelings of inferiority can be remedied with drugs.

Family, friends, celebrities, and fans gathered to commemorate Whitney Houston’s life at her “home going” service in Newark’s New Hope Baptist Church where she once attended and sang in the choir.

For better than five hours, her “home going” service was televised and streamed on the web. CNN devoted a large part of their day to covering the services and other aspects of Houston’s life.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie issued an executive order to lower the American flag to half-staff. Criticisms abound over his decision. He defended his action by saying, “I am disturbed by people who believe that because her ultimate demise – and we don’t know what is the cause of her death yet – but because of her history of substance abuse that somehow she’s forfeited the good things that she did in her life. I just reject that on a human level.”

We all should as well. But Houston’s death should not be ranked at a level that America usually reserves for such an honor.

President Obama stated the Department of Defense budget would continue to grow “because we have global responsibilities that demand our leadership.” Its true meaning: unending wars are alive and well.

On January 5, President Obama announced a new defense strategy. It’s titled “Sustaining US Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense.” It’s a plan that accommodates a leaner military. The plan is necessary in order to accomplish $487 billion in defense budget cuts over the next decade.

However, Obama stated that the defense budget would continue to grow “because we have global responsibilities that demand our leadership.”

What does Obama mean when he says we have responsibilities that demand America’s leadership?

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s comment that he was not concerned about the very poor is not surprising. Republicans are not concerned. After all, essentially, Republicans’ believe that unless you’re rich you’re worthless.

President Obama declared, “There is nothing wrong with our country. There is something wrong with our politics.” He is right! “There is something wrong with our politics,” but there is something more wrong in our country than just politics.

Something is wrong when conservatives speak of the importance of family values on the one hand and on the other hand support systems that undermine those values. They support a system of economics and government that sets forth career goals, materialism, and wealth creation as essential to establishing family values, the pursuit of an education for its financial rewards, and social values that in essence say if you are not wealthy, you are worthless.

It’s a system that requires both a mother and father to work in order for their family to survive. Every day in America, the system necessitates millions of parents to deliver their children to a relative, babysitter, or a day care center. Some of these children are newborns, no more than 6 weeks old. It requires a parent in many instances to awaken children who should continue to sleep, but instead strap them in car seats. Sometimes this is necessary in the worst of weather, which puts their children at risk. The emotional cost is high. For all those who need to work to make ends meet, the financial cost is unacceptable.

Republicans embrace Bush’s foreign policy and Reagan’s principle of peace through strength; Obama and Congress are apparently on the same page; Admiral Mullen, Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich are sounding the alarm against such a reckless foreign policy.

President George W. Bush’s foreign policy can only be described as one that embraced lying to America and her friends, militaristic belligerence and arrogantly embracing American exceptionalism in order to achieve the goals of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC). PNAC’s goal was that “American leadership is both good for America and good for the world.” PNAC supported Ronald Reagan’s principle of “peace through strength” and embraced the notion of moral clarity.

Today, except for Ron Paul, every Republican presidential candidate embraces Reagan’s principles and the notion of “My Country, Right or Wrong.” They call Ron Paul’s approach to foreign policy dangerous.

Andrew Bacevich, Professor of International Relations at Boston University, certainly does not agree …